Last May, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a law that forbids publishing a dead serviceman's name "for commercial purposes" without permission from the next of kin. And even as constitutionally problematic as that sounds, Arizona's governor (bless her heat-stroked little brain) is not the first dimwit to think this is a good idea. No, Louisiana and Oklahoma had already signed similar bills into law.... And that, in itself, poses the question of which legislator is more stupid; the one who thought of it first, or those who had time to mull it over and then do it anyway?
Moreover, it presents the broader questions about the term "for commercial purposes."
Strictly speaking, that would seem to bar newspapers from publishing the names to the war dead.
Now, granted, that's not the purpose of the legislation. The purpose is/was, in Napolitano's case, to prevent someone from printing and selling an anti-war t-shirt list the names of the dead under the headline "Bush Lied, They Died." What's unclear is the motivation for this law; I mean was it because some dumb-ass lawmaker thought that a t-shirt isn't a reverent enough venue for the name of someone who was killed in combat? Or, was it to stifle criticism of a ludicrous policy inflicted on the world by a president whose stupidity is only exceeded by those who voted for him.... twice?
